Dragon Bowling

Fingers were crossed, but when made it to the dock there simply was too much rain and lightning.  Practice was cancelled.

But we were all there!  So, next plan: Bowling. 

Not sure exactly how bowling actually translates into good paddling (building arm strength?).  But it certainly was a fun time.  Coach Blain said  he loved being with us young people and can't wait to get us in shape. 

Anyway, not surprisingly, I did not bowl well (inspite of the cool photo). 
Before leaving, I got a couple of extra minutes with Pierre and Will.  It seemed like we haven't talked in ages... A quick catch up and then Will took me home.  I bugged him about wedding planning.  It was just nice to see these guys again.  But next week - back to work!

You Can Always Go

Now that she's experienced the two most British things we could think of, and she's met a real Mountie (courtesy of Sherri), where to take Jackie for her last full day in Edmonton?  Downtown! 

The Core Crew walking tour seemed like just the right thing to show off some of our interesting history and landmarks. 

The weather cooperated fantastically.  It wasn't long that Jackie and I, along with two of the Core Crew members, were off on our (semi-private by luck) walking tour. 

We saw public art pieces tucked away in alleys.  We went into the Edmonton Journal Building and was told the publication was the first non-American recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. 

More Tid-Bits:
- Manulife Place is the tallest building on the skyline, but doesn't win in height when we count number of floors
- MacDougall United Church (1910) was constructed with "Renaissance Inspiration"

- Edmonton's designated Heritage Trail is approximately 1.5 km long and is marked by red brick roads, black lamp posts, and historical photo markers (Right: An example).

(Left: And though our guides didn't point it out, these markers also seemed a likely place for some "public protest".)

- The Green Ribbon (a.k.a. the green space of our River Valley) is twelve times larger than Central Park in NY.

- The white bird-like sculpture was a commemoration for Pope John Paul II's visit to Alberta (not officially part of the tour - but visible from where we were)

- Hotel Macdonald - Home to a ghost horse (rumoured to have been sealed into the building's foundations when it fell into some unset concrete) and $ 3,000 per night Royal Suite

- The strange little alcove in the Union Bank Inn (Left) was designed so that residents could have a convienent smoke break outside.
- The inspiration for Churchill Square was "the Prairies", the Three Bananas Cafe corresponds with "The Rockies"

- The stone work in City Hall comes from the old City Hall and a special site in Manitoba (with many small embedded fossils). 

It was great to be able to ask the Core Crew members and what they couldn't find in their notes, they looked up on the web.  I'm not sure if we were actually ahead of schedule, but they actually offered to stop for us to take photos. 

The whole tour ended at the World Trade Centre.  On our own, we decided to visit the Works (Wild Horses in Alberta - a study by Margaret Enns), and then set off for a not-quite-downtown special location: Duchess. 

However well the walking tour worked since it was a Monday, we were denied by the Duchess for the same reason.  I was so embarrassed for not checking first, but the beauty of 124th Street saved me: there are quite a number of other cafes.  We dropped in somewhere else and had gelato and a talk. 

Soon it was time to leave and meet up with Paul for his official birthday dinner - and would you know it?  He just happened to walk by!  More gelato later, we walk down and explore 124th further for a dinner spot. 

We decided on Greek and had a very tasty meal in a funny place (it felt as though we could simply just walk out the window at any point), giving our feet a much needed rest. 

I hope it all left a good lasting impression for Jackie of Edmonton. 

Having people visit is certainly inspiring to explore one's own city.  At some point, I'll have to try some of those other walking tours.

Paul's Fish & Chips Birthday

"Let truffles, horseradish and fennel rain upon me!"

Paul and I looked at each other and snickered.  Apparently Falstaff wanted to be pelted - but we didn't have the stuff he requested. The actor was doing a great job as the egotistical and cheesy Falstaff - so much so, it was tempting to punish the character for being such a jerk.  

Anyway, aside from all the intentional and fitting hamming, there was fabulous singing and lovely costumes.  Opera Nuova was definitely an economical way to get a taste of opera.  (Now, they just need to do the Ring Cycle a.k.a Paul's Favourite.)

So was our fun and musical start to the extravaganza that was to be Paul's Fish & Chips birthday*. 

After the opera, we retired for a short break (and Coconut cuddle) before heading over to Brit's Fish and Chips for dinner. 

Steph ordered chicken.  The rest of us stuck to fish and chips. 

Taking advantage of the side order of bread on the menu, Paul and Jackie made "chip butties". 

After dinner, a little time for play.

Then (though the deep friend Mars bars were tempting) cake!

(Right: No girlfriends!)

Brit's was certainly helpful and friendly, making sure we had enough space and providing cake plates and forks.  We wanted to leave them with some cake... but it was mostly gobbled up. 

Not long, after we all headed out - right in time for some rain.  More birthday extravanganza to follow.



* Not familiar? Think of it as a "Champagne Birthday" with a British twist!  Yah...we made it up. 

Victorious Sponge!

Jackie's Birthday Cake Recipe
(For 1 layer of a 2 layer cake)

Ingredients

• 1 cup self rising flour (with additional for sprinkling)
• 4 ounces of margarine
• 2 eggs beaten at room temperature
• 4 oz or 1/2 cup sugar (white)
• milk as needed

Directions

1. Preheat Oven to 350 F
2. Cream margarine with sugar until light and fluffy (the more fluffy the lighter the cake)
3. Add small amounts of egg at a time to bowl and beat into margarine-sugar mixture, until all is incoporated.  Stop adding egg if curdling occurs (where mixture seems to be separating) and add a small amount of flour. 
4. Sift 1 cup of flour into mixture and fold into it in a figure-8 pattern (try not to mash out the air)
5. Add enough milk to make the mixture "drop" easily
6. Scoop mixture into cake tin and evenly spread
7. Bake for 25 minutes (or until golden and toothpick tested in centre comes out clean)
8. Cool in pan for 5 minutes and remove. 

Jackie guided me through all of this (essentially a Victoria Sponge cake - not a Victorious Sponge variant) and let me attempt one of the layers (a win!).  Butter icing goes between with some strawberry jam and covers the entire cake.  Am I the only one suprised that butter icing is pretty much just butter and icing sugar? 

Afterwards we played Scrabble and Paul and I visited the backyard.  I was a little disappointed most of the mystery bugs had gone, but we did catch one (right).  So, ladybug? 

Tomorrow's the big day: We'll eat cake! 

Fryers, Flowers, Feast

"Babaganoush - a wonderful word but I'm not sold on the taste." ~ Erik

Paul and I had a leisurely walk to Feast.  I took pictures while Paul provided the soundtrack: Music Box Dancer which had been planted earlier in his ear (from an ice cream truck?) and Pachlbel's Canon in D. 

(Right: Giant poppy seed pod, strangely fuzzy and larger than a pingpong ball / Below: Honeysuckle)

Once there, we ate veg.  

The conversation started with the somewhat concrete - deep fried Mars bars - and went into the abstract - deep fryer fish tanks (or more precisely, how something like that would work).  And then, Erik whips out his iPhone to show the very thing on a Japanse show. 

Not unusual for Feast. 

But then:

Steph: Hic!
Paul: I knew this was a hick town. 

Next you know, Rem has the dictionary open, ready to settle the difference between "hick" and "hill-billie". 

Just in case Dave Z missed it, I told him, "You know it's a good Feast when the dictionary comes out." 

More amusements: Bread "sawing" reminds Beth of The Big Snit.  We go into the other room to watch it.  Mixed reviews as to whether it was a happy or sad ending.  Either way, I liked it - reminded me of David Eagleman's Sum: 40 Tales of the Afterlives (well, one of them). 

My T-shirt was in no way as fun or impressive of Rem's (but that's o.k.).  Someone had approached him for a business card the other day - they wanted to hire him to play piano - but he didn't have any (hm... I might be able to fix that). 

Tried to figure out just how long Steph and I have known each other.  We think 11 years.  Where did the time go? 

Once helmets safely on, Beth and Dave Z ride into the almost setting sun. 

P&J Return

Paul and Jackie are back from Vancouver!  The warm hug Jackie greeted me with at the airport was almost as big as Paul's. 

(Left: Jackie in Vancouver had her geese all in a row.)

After dropping off the luggage, we took Jackie out for her first "real-ish" Chinese meal at Buddy Wonton.  I poured on the hot chili oil for some extra flavour in the congee, but might have gone a little overboard...  She seemed to like it all, but decided to hold off on bubble tea (despite being so close to Dream Tea House).

Paul and I take a walk around the block and I find some really cool bugs in the alley (a different ladybug?).  He'd managed to stay fairly mosquito bite free in their short Vancouver trip (neither of us so, when it came to our walk), but wasn't successful when it came to sunburns. 

The secret seeds had sprouted and he had no trouble figuring out just what they were (right). 
When we got back, Jackie was making a list of ingredients to bake a cake for the weekend. 

Jackie: What do you call icing sugar here?
Me: Um... icing sugar?

Father and Fridges

Of all the things we could have had for Father's Day lunch (I was buying), all Dad wanted was A&W burgers.  And since it was his day, we spent the afternoon doing something he wanted too: Go out and buy a fridge (or at least look at them). 

It seemed rather mundane, but I wasn't to argue.  The two of us ate burgers, went shopping for fridges, and came back home.  Mom, instead, went to watch some Chinese opera. 

And then, (I thought) that was that. 

A few days later, I caught Dad excitedly watching football - I happened to be home.  Mom took me aside and told me he's been grumpy and asked if I knew why.  Truth of it was, I hadn't notice.  He's always quiet and kind of scowly.  And he certainly seemed fine watching football...

It got me thinking:
- One of his old friends has recently died - While he never seems to react to this kind of news with more than just "We all have to go some time..." maybe this one was different?
- There really hasn't been that much rain - We're still maintaining the garden and lawn, so we're using more money than he'd like?
- The Canadian Dollar to Yuan exchange - Is it currently bad?
- Mom went to the theatre instead of having Father's Day lunch with us...?

- Maybe he's actually o.k. and it's Mom who's overly worried again. 

Saturday at the Arbour Tea House

Steph: "It's "Yay!" not "Yay, grr!"

The fine differences in Canadian English along with some fine tea at the Rutherford House Arbour Restaurant made for a great start to Saturday.  I think Jackie ended up being quite pleased at our attempts to introduce her to some of our favourite places.  We were glad she was properly British: She drinks tea! 

While the rest of us decide to have Mrs. Rutherford's Tea, Paul goes rogue, "giving quiche a chance" along with a very decadent sticky toffee pudding.

Jackie: "Where's the justice? He's a string!"

 

While the others talked about music and "Speaking of being dead...", I was focused on the pretty teacup and saucer set that featured the flowers of the ten Canadian provinces. 

It never occurred to me that fine china would be made in Canada... Right, that might be assuming too much.  They might not have been made here, but someone thought it was a good idea to make a set with Canadian provincial flowers as the theme and subject - and I agree.

Certainly, some go for the food and the tea, I go, at least in part, for the china. 

Anyway, by this point in time, Jackie pretty much expected me to be taking pictures of everything / anything (Left and Right). 

The weather was lovely.  We sat outside for a short while before heading off to more adventures.

For the afternoon, Paul and Jackie went to the AGA to see the Escher exhibit.  I went to the Reuse Centre to put in a couple of volunteer hours.  And I found a fabulous (o.k. probably fabulously tacky) souvenir for Jackie: A Canada goose sculpture! I thought it was great, but now suspect it isn't really her style.  Nevertheless, she diplomatically accepted and said she'll try to fit into her suitcase. 

To round off the night, Paul and I make dinner and the three of us play Scrabble.  Jackie was good natured, Paul was thoughtful, by the end though, I was ecstatic: "Tartare" for a bonus 50 points, I won!  (House Hippo helped.)

Friday: Farewell and Feast

After (now ex-)Boss Neil's retirement party at (where the girls showed off their pool skills at Billiard's on Whyte - a brighter and airier space than I ever expected),  I met up with Paul and Jackie at Feast. 

It was the first Feast since Rem and Steph's return from vacation.  We munched on homemade bread and soup, while checking our their photos and listening to their stories of Ireland.

Oh, and we played with baby Arilyn! 

Or, at the very least, her toys. 

(Right: Round peg fits in square, or "Hey, that's mine!")

(Below: "What you doing back there?")

(Left: I suspect this will be one of the highlights of her trip.)